Emmure – Slave to the Game

Hello you guys, Sam here. I’m the person in this dominion that reviews just about whatever everyone else doesn’t or won’t review. So to kick things off, the new album from EMMURE entitled Slave to the Game,  which I have no clue what it means but apparently I’m assuming Frankie Palmeri‘s fans are slaves to videogames. I am one of those people on rare occasion so the album title is still throwing me off.

Band: Emmure
Album: Slave to the Game
Genre: Deathcore
Label: Victory Records
Release Date: April 10, 2012

Anyway, the first actual track on the album is called “Protoman” and it starts off with a bouncy open-chord intro riff, something that’ll make all the scene kids go flying high with their spin kicks and pirouettes. The lyricism is basically 7th grade-level writing, but considering this is Emmure, in which most of their lyrics are short, repetitive, and mostly about the same topic, it’s generally pointless to even want to begin describing it.

The next few tracks remind me of their previous album Speaker of the Dead. “She Gave Her Heart to Deadpool” has a good opener but a very repetitive ending with the same lyric over and over again. “I Am Onslaught” is probably one of their most heaviest songs to date, especially the middle breakdown in which I could dub this certain breakdown “unsafe.” You’ll get what I mean once you hear the song, if you care to even give it a try. “Bison Diaries” reminds me of a mix between their 3rd album Felony, which is a horrible excuse of an album in my honest opinion, and The Respect Issue, their 2nd full-length and their possibly their best album to date. It’s a solid mix of heavy breakdowns, interesting open-chorded riffs, and mind-boggling programming effects that, from what I am assuming, is supposed to get you to delve into their dark yet generic deathcore.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3Kos55yS5M]

“Poltergeist” is the 6th track and it’s not even a track, it’s an interlude that has a background track of someone praying to Jesus Christ. This band is the last band I would think off of the top of my head who would use anything regarding Jesus Christ, so listening to this made me chuckle a bit. In return, it leads into their most fast-paced, adrenaline-rushing, more Djent-sounding tune they have probably written in the last year or so, which is entitled “Cross Over Attack.” Emmure has hopped on that Djent bandwagon along with a thousand other “core” bands, so it’s not surprising that they’re going that route. But because they did so, I’m well amused by their endless breakdowns that now consists of lower guitar tuning and odd time signatures in their breakdowns.

“Umar Dumps Dormammu” is an odd track, so I’ll just leave it at that.

“Blackheart Reigns” is a mixed sound that almost sounds like they mixed the uniqueness of “Demons With Ryu” and the heaviness of “Soundwave Superior,” and that’s not really a bad thing. The ending breakdown in the song is without a doubt a massive one that may make you want to punt a baby or two, depending on how trendy or hardcore you are.

“MDMA,” their most melodic sounding song on the album, uses ballad-related guitar usage to give their listeners a tone that reaches a point of endless free falling, meaning it makes you want to free fall within their music. Specifically this certain song. It’s probably the best song on the album.

“War Begins With You” is the last full-length song on the album and it’s got a couple headbanging breakdowns in there to make you metalheads appeased by their hard work to make that Emmure sound.

And finally the album ends with “A.I.,” which is an actual song but it kinda pauses itself in and out every once in a while, so in reality you could call it a closing breakdown with lyrics.

Overall, it’s definitely an Emmure album. Groundbreaking? Not in the least bit. Well-written? Depends on the listener’s point of view. Metal? I would assume so, but it’s definitely an album to check out if you aren’t a fan of the music, or the genre, or the band. This is basically the album I would have loved to hear if they would have released it as Felony circa 2008.